Why applications fail before the technology is read

Two administrative things decide a cascade application before its technical merit is weighed. Both are inside your control.

Why does a strong file still get rejected? Two things decide a cascade application before its technical merit is weighed: whether you pass the eligibility gates, and whether your own documents agree with each other. Both are administrative. Both are inside your control. Both are routinely underestimated.

What counts as an eligibility gate? A gate is a rule that excludes you regardless of how good the work is. Prior participation in a related programme can bar you from a follow-up call, or cap what you may still receive. Financial standing is another: many EU calls, including the cascade calls we work on, exclude an undertaking in difficulty, broadly a company that has lost more than half its subscribed capital, is subject to insolvency proceedings, or is receiving rescue or restructuring aid. Where it applies, the test is set out in the call’s own guide for applicants. That test applies to the legal entity that applies, not to the wider group it belongs to. It applies irrespective of technical merit and irrespective of how modest the grant is.

Gates are also cheap to check. The recent annual accounts you must submit anyway as proof of your own contribution usually evidence the financial test as well. One document, two questions answered.

Why does a contradiction cost more than a gap? A gap is honest. You state what you have and what you still need, and an evaluator can price that risk. A contradiction is different: it makes every other number in the file negotiable. We recently read an intake that gave two different technology-readiness levels for one product. Nobody resolves that for you.

What should you do before writing anything? List the rules that can exclude you and answer them with documents, not intentions. Then read your own file as an unsympathetic stranger would, and remove every place where it disagrees with itself. Only then does the writing start paying off.

From our practice · Eucade